Parts of Cuyahoga Valley National Park are inaccessible by bicycle, so we left the bikes behind today and returned to explore the park further by car and on foot. We also wanted to check out the Tinkers Creek Gorge area, just outside the park, as well.
First stop in the park, the Cuyahoga Valley Ledges Trail. This is a popular 2 ½- mile loop through some cool rock formations, but it wasn't too busy on this Thursday in September. The weather today was mid-70s and overcast – good hiking conditions on a very nice trail.
Watch your step!
Funky formations
Jana explores The Ledges
After our hike, we passed through Peninsula to scope out a place to park this weekend, when we'll be doing an overnight bike ride to Cleveland. The parking in Peninsula turned out to be a huge headache. Alternatively, Boston Mill Visitor Center, a couple of miles north, seems a better choice, even though a ranger there warned us there have been vehicle break-ins. Fingers crossed!
Next, we moved on to Brandywine Falls. The weather has been very dry lately, so we had low hopes, but the waterfall was gorgeous! No hike required. A short, scenic boardwalk with a reasonable number of stairs led to a couple of nice overlooks.
Brandywine Falls
Then we drove east out of the national park and into the Tinkers Creek Gorge area, in the Bedford Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks system. There we stopped at an overlook, hiked to the practically dry Bridal Veil Falls, and wandered around Viaduct Park. A great place to visit if you lived here, but not worth going very far out of your way. It was nice.
Tinkers Creek Gorge Scenic Overlook
Bridal Veil Falls - just add water
Bedford, Ohio
Tinkers Creek
It was beer o'clock by the time we returned to Akron. First we stopped by R. Shea Brewery to pick up some Rubber City Red to go, then proceeded on to Akronym Brewing, in the heart of downtown. The Black Hat schwartzbier and Blaze rauchbier were outstanding!
Great brewery!
Black Hat schwartzbier and Blaze rauchbier
Rubber City
Jana poses for a portrait
For dinner, we parked back at the Airbnb and walked to Rockne's Irish Pub. They didn't have anything on tap we couldn't live without, but the food was fantastic! And super cheap! And the portions were huge! Also, the waitress was great! We ordered a reuben sandwich and Cajun pasta and had a ton of food left over. Awesome!
My beautiful butterfly